With the boys high school regular basketball schedule winding down, area teams turned their attention to the one-and-done season that begins later this month. Buckeye Central and Wynford were the only area teams to garner top seeds in the sectional draws completed Sunday.

"It went down to Plymouth or us. They (Plymouth) are playing pretty well right now," Buckeye Central coach Phil Loy said about the close vote between the Big Red and his Bucks at Lexington High School in that Division IV sectional. "It's a good reward for the kids."

Buckeye Central (12-3) got four of the six votes from coaches for the top seed, giving the Bucks a four-point advantage in the final tally. Both teams took opening round byes, Buckeye Central in the upper bracket and Plymouth (12-4) in the lower. Buckeye Central defeated Plymouth 55-48 early in the season.

Lucas edged Crestline for the third seed in spite of the fact the Cubs and Bulldogs split their regular season contests and Lucas coach Andy Carver listed Crestline above his on the ballot.

The Cubs will take on Mansfield Christian in the lower bracket on Feb. 27 for the right to play Plymouth. Crestline (8-7) will have to tackle one of their coach's former teams, St. Peter's (6-9), in the early game Feb. 2 with the winner getting Buckeye Central on March 2.

"The drawing didn't go the way we hoped, the way we anticipated. But we match up well and you've got to be somebody," Birie said. "I didn't really want to have to play Lucas again. We didn't really want to play Buckeye Central again either because we play them the week before."

The Bucks downed the Bulldogs 60-45 the first time they met and will finish the regular season against them.

"It's tough enough to have to play someone three times, much less having played just the week before," Loy said of a possible third date with Crestline. "I haven't seen them (St. Peter's) play yet, but they always play hard."

Coaches had to vote a second time at Riverdale. Carey switched and the nod for the top spot went to Wynford (10-5) while Vanlue (12-4) got the two seed.

"I knew it would be tough for the number one seed. They (Vanlue) played two Division III schools and lost to both. That might have been the difference," Wynford coach Tim Ehresman said. "But it's never easy. These are good teams with good coaches. . It's tournament time, you throw out the records."

The Royals have a bye in the upper bracket and will play either Arcadia (3-12) or Carey (9-6) on March 2. Wynford won at Carey earlier in the season in double overtime, 68-63.

Colonel Crawford (4-12) will have a rematch for certain in the late game Feb. 27. The Eagles will get another shot at Hopewell-Loudon (5-9) who beat them earlier in Bascom, 33-29.

"We're happy. Coming in we wanted to stay away from Wynford," Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. "We played at Hopewell-Loudon and lost early in the year in a close game. We played a tough schedule and that's going to help us in the tournament. Everybody starts at zero."

The first part of the draw was a good one for Bucyrus and first-year coach Mark McQuown. The second round, though, is brutal in the Division III tournament at Old Fort High School.

The Redmen (2-13) will play Kansas Lakota (1-13) in the early game on Feb. 27. Their reward for winning is a date with top-seeded Liberty-Benton, ranked first in the state with a perfect mark of 14-0.

Elmwood (11-2) is the second seed. The Royals lost to Liberty-Benton and Van Buren who was ranked third in the state at the time.

"This is exactly what we were thinking," McQuown said. "Nothing is a given and we have to come out and play well against Lakota. They play a tough schedule."

Seneca East (12-3) received the third seed. The Tigers will have to defeat Gibsonburg (6-10) to get a shot at Elmwood. All the coaches ballots were identical top to bottom in the vote for seeds.

"It played out about the way I figured it would. It's about all we could do," Seneca East coach Martin Coffman Jr. said. "We wanted to stay away from Liberty-Benton. That was everybody's goal."

Galion (4-11) will play Clear Fork (3-11) in the Division II sectional at Mansfield Senior on Feb. 27. The winner gets top-seeded Upper Sandusky (13-2). In the other Division IV tournament at Hopewell-Loudon, Mohawk (13-3) got the top seed and will get a rematch with either Old Fort (4-10) or Bettsville (2-12).